 EDZN Power at Zenith X-Over |
The timetable location here is "Zenith X-Over", about two smiles west of the Zenith Amtrak depot, which is milepost 0.0 on the LF&NW. The locos are on Track 2, power off the EDZN, a Guilford train from East Deerfield, MA, that has a UP SD9043MAC as part of its consist today. Zenith Yard's capacity is too small for the business it currently needs to handle, and the yardmaster frequently ties up main line tracks as a result.
The structure at the right edge of the photo is the "Reddy Kilowatt" billboard on top of the
Edison Electric Company power plant. The photographer appears to have climbed the power plant stack to
get this shot.
 Zenith Yard Looking East |
This photo shows the other (west) side of the highway bridge you see in the top photo. The power here is the Zenith yard job, which normally uses two B-B road switchers, because it has to pull drafts of 15 or 20 cars up a 2 percent grade on a 24 inch radius curve to make up and break up trains. When I started seriously operating this layout about 5 years ago, I was using three units to pull longer drafts, but this was simply more than the layout could handle.
The main line tracks are occupied here, a sign that the yard is too small (I kept this area from a previous, smaller layout). I'm working on an expansion to the layout that will include a larger yard where I can put to use some of what this layout has been teaching me on yard operation.
 Layover Power on Zenith Connector |
This view looks about 90 degrees to the left, or east, of the previous shot. The track is the Zenith Connector, over which eastbound trains loop back onto the main line to leave Zenith, but the small capacity of the engine terminal means that power sometimes lays over on this track as well. In this case, a pair of B&M GP7s will go out on the Woollett Turn before the next through freight needs to leave town.
In the upper right distance is Zenith Knitting Mills, one of the city's four biggest rail customers.
It has a spur off the westbound main.
 Zenith Yard Looking East |
This view looks about 90 degrees to the left again of the previous shot, or back behind the left shoulder of the first shot. The signal bridge at left is the same one visible in the first shot. The bridge at top center carries the westbound main toward Woollett and Tennessee Pass. The eastbound main curves under the bridge; just past the bridge is the Amtrak station and the East Zenith industrial area.
You can see the Zenith Connector coming in just to the right of the water tank.
It rejoins Track 3 leading to the eastbound main under the bridge.
October 10, 2003
